Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hp-vcd!neff From: neff@hp-vcd.HP.COM (Dave Neff) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware Subject: Re: StyleWriter/DeskWriter - Which to buy? Message-ID: <1170032@hp-vcd.HP.COM> Date: 23 May 91 23:24:09 GMT References: <1991May21.214337.794@csc.canterbury.ac.nz> Organization: Hewlett Packard, Vancouver, WA Lines: 97 >I am very pleased with my StyleWriter. It fits my personal need very >well, but if you frequently pump out 20pg papers then the DeskWriter >will be speeder (but only with slower Macs, faster Macs result >in comparable speeds). .... I would suggest you have it backwards. On slower Macs, the driver not the printer is the bottleneck and the StyleWriter speed is closer to the DeskWriter speed. On faster Macs, the printer mechanism, not the driver speed limits the speed of the printer. The StyleWriter is a 1/2 page per minute "engine" in letter quality, and 1 page per minite "engine" in draft. It can go no faster even on the fastest Mac. The DeskWriter is a 1 to 2 page per minute "engine" in letter quality and 2 to 3 page per minute "engine" in draft. On the average, the DeskWriter will be twice the speed as a StyleWriter -- especially on the fastest Macs. Believe me, we have done plenty of speed comparisons here :-). I have also read a variety of printer reviews that agree with these numbers. The DeskWriter also does a better job with grey scales, and the StyleWriter always goes bi-directionally which results in misregistration. In the StyleWriter review in "The Active Window", May, 1991 (BMUG) the reviewer noticed both of these problems with the StyleWriter. The misregistration results in visible bands in grey shaded areas on "jagies" in multiple pass (taller) fonts and solid vertical lines. That review's benchmarks also showed the 2 to 1 print speed advantage of the DeskWriter, and this review used a faster Mac (SE/30). The StyleWriter can't print as far down on a page as the DeskWriter or the LaserWriter LS. I have seen StyleWriter output where the bottom half of the last line of text on the page was truncated. The same document printed fine to a DeskWriter and LaserWriter LS. The DeskWriter does a pretty good job of keeping up with the LaserWriter LS as well. The LaserWriter eventually beats a DeskWriter on lengthy simple text print outs, the the DeskWriter is faster for short text memos and complicated desktop publishing or graphics output actually is often faster on a DeskWriter. The LaserWriter LS has better print quality than either the StyleWriter or the DeskWriter in my opinion -- although on the best papers both of the inkjets are impressive. Unfortunately, on less than the best papers neither inkjet is close to laser printers in quality. I know I don't have a student's budget, but in my opinion the less obvious question is should I buy a DeskWriter over a LaserWriter LS (or some other low end laser printer). I don't think the StyleWriter even comes close to the DeskWriter in price/performance now that the DeskWriter has been reduced in price. The laser printers aren't really much faster than the DeskWriter, and on the average speed will probably be pretty close, but the price per page for output and the print quality is clearly better for the laser printers -- especially across a wider range of paper types. As for the price, DeskWriters should be readily available for under $500. Of course Apple does have some really good educational discounts for their stuff. As for print quality, on high quality bond paper both printers have really good output, but the StyleWriter is generally more particular about paper type and I think you will find DeskWriter has better print quality on common copy papers. Try a variety of paper types on both printers before you decide which one has the better print quality overall. There are some cheap kinds of copy papers that give really good output with a DeskWriter. I'm not sure to what extent this is true with the StyleWriter. As for the 360 DPI StyleWriter giving a better job with 72 DPI bitmaps, the DeskWriter supports "precision bitmaps" where 72 dpi bitmaps are scaled to 288 DPI and all outline fonts are shrunk by 4% to make the text and graphics be the proper relative size. I have never seen any problems when using this mode with 72DPI bitmaps. On the other hand, the StyleWriter doesn't do as good a job with 300 DPI bitmaps as the DeskWriter since the scaling process necessarily will introduce some artifacts (just like 72DPI to 300DPI introduces artifacts). Granted in the Mac world there are more 72DPI bitmaps than 300DPI bitmaps. As for usage limits, the DeskWriter is rated at 60,000 pages. I have not been able to find a spec for the StyleWriter, and Apple doesn't seem to want to give out this number, but I have heard (unfortunately second or third hand) that the BubbleJet 10E has a rated life of about 26,000 pages. Of course since the DeskWriter is twice as fast, the BJ/StyleWriter would last "just as long" since it would take the BJ/StyleWriter about the same total time to print 26,000 pages as the DeskWriter would take to print the 60,000 pages :-). I have a hard time believing the 6000 page rated life some people have been throwing out for the StyleWriter, but I do wonder why Apple wont give out this number. Its a standard part of the spec of our printers. You want to know how many hours of use you can expect out of a $1.00 lightbulb. I would think you would want to know how many hours of use you can expect out of a $400 printer. And finally the DeskWriter supports AppleTalk or serial connections. The StyleWriter is serial only. Dave Neff neff@hpvcfs1.HP.COM Disclaimer: I am speaking for myself and not HP. I am also about as biased as you can get with respect to the DeskWriter. However I do try to be accurate -- even though I'm biased :-).